A Single Month is all They Took
by ArtemisNiteshade
Summary: When a remainder of Holy Knights capture and torture Melodias, it is up to King, Diane, Merlin, Gowther, Elizabeth and Hawk to save him... but are they too late? Has their captain already been broken? A single month was all the time the Holy Knights still following Hendrisken's views had to torture Melodias... but maybe... just maybe... that was all they needed.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: I do not own the anime Seven Deadly Sins, nor the characters used. All credit to their original owners.**

 **A Single Year is all They Took**

Melodias had not meant to fail. To be captured by the enemy. To be disarmed and chained down in front of a small group of the few still angry about Hendrisken's failures. Yet here he was, at the feet of one who longed to destroy him more than anyone else he knew. The Weird Fangs of Baste Dungeon, who had wanted the Holy Knights to take over the kingdom and were unaware of Hedriksen's demon forms, as they had fled the moment he was proclaimed defeated in order to avoid persecution for their crimes. Melodias looked around his cell, but it was the same as always. Walls made of dark gray stone, various places in the floor, walls and ceiling for Melodias's chains to be attached. The floor was made of rough cement that scraped him up every time he was shoved down... which was a lot. Currently, he was chained so he was kneeling down in front of a chair, where Freesia sat. She laughed, kicking him over and over in his chest and head. "Tell me! Tell me where the Sins are going!" she cackled, urging him to release the secret he held, but he couldn't. If he did, all of his friends... the other Sins... Hawk... Elizabeth... they'd be tracked down, and then... he didn't know. Freesia looked down at him in her strange bug armor. "I wish I didn't have to do this." Freesia giggled maniacally, not sounding like she meant that at all. "Sit tight!" she disappeared through the cell door. Melodias gasped for breath, skinny and weak from lack of proper food and water. He was ashamed of himself for suffering so immensely from just a few kicks. He tried once more to escape, but some strange magic seemed to prevent him from activating his Demon powers. Full Counter was useless, considering no magic had been used at him at all. He pulled on his bonds, trying to undo the cuffs and kicking out his legs to try and free himself from the binding chains, but he couldn't. The door opened, and Freesia put a hand under his chin. "Now, now, dear. I wouldn't be struggling so hard if I were you. That will only make this worse." A knife dug into his shoulder. He bit his lip, trying not to make a sound. Another knife forced its way into his chest, one into his right wrist, another into his left arm. Pain flared through him, and finally, when another knife dug into his spine, he screamed in pain, gasping for breath. He thrashed, but that only brought more pain, as the knives were being held in place by Freesia and now two more Holy Knights his vision was too blurred and his mind too muddled to recognize. He realized soon his thrashing was causing the knives to tear through his skin, and he stilled himself. The knives were yanked out. "Did that hurt?" Freesia asked, voice dripping in fake sympathy. "That is only the beginning of your torture. Of course, if you were to tell us what we needed to know-" "Never." The Sin of Wrath glared, green eyes that usually sparkled in amusement dull and angry. "So be it. You face your next torture in an hour." and with that, Melodias was left alone. He breathed heavily, blood pouring out of his wounds. He realized with a shock his back legs... had been paralyzed. He felt as if something inside of him had broke. He couldn't even get up anymore. His green eyes widened, but before long, blood loss took over and he fell into unconsciousness.  
-Timeskip-

When Melodias woke, he wished he hadn't. His legs were still useless. He was lying in some sort of odd tank, glass surrounding him on all four sides and reaching the stone ceiling. A large, rusted pipe seemed to be the way to get out. He begun to drag himself towards it by his arms, desperate to get out of there, but it begun to pour out water. A quick glance around, and Melodias realized that they intended to drown him. More water flowed around him, already covering everything but his head. His chin was now under. Panic spread. His mouth was under. His nose. He couldn't breath! His eyes... no more sight. He was submerged. He desperately tried to swim, but his legs refused to listen and his arms were barely enough to let him surface every few seconds for air. It wasn't long before he hit the top. There was no escape from the water! He pounded on the ceiling in pure desperation, yelling under the water under finally he made the mistake of gasping for breath on instinct, and begun viciously coughing and attempting to breath, only to fill his lungs with water once more. Just when he was about to slip into sweet, sweet oblivion, about to go unconscious and... hopefully die... the glass shattered, flushing him out and leaving him dripping wet, coughing, gasping and attempting to curl into a ball at the feet of the Weird Fangs. "Pitiful." murmured Golgius. When finally, Melodias was dragged by his hair into his cell and chained down to the floor so he was bowing down at the door, he gave in to the tears, finally alone. Fighting and getting wounded in combat was something he was no strange to, but his demon powers could let him heal almost anything. Here, they were used against him to revive him so he could be healed then tortured again. It was mentally and physically torturous. He hated being chained down always, on his knees, hands chained to the ground far from him so he was forced to bend over. He fell into unconsciousness, not knowing his next torture would be his last.

-Timeskip-

Melodias woke up tied to a stake, arms in front of his chest, ropes wrapped around his arms and chest keeping him to the large piece of... metal? The metal was cold, telling Melodias he had been tied there recently. His body heat hadn't yet warmed it. He looked down weakly, to see logs under him, piled up so they buried his ankles. He gasped in horror, realizing he was about to be burned alive. A bucket of water was hanging above his head. "Scream that it hurts. Beg us to make it stop, and then it will. And then, unless you want more torture, you will tell us everything."


	2. Chapter 2

Gowther tilted his head, frowning ever so slightly. "Baste... Dungeon?" he repeated what King had said. "Where they held Ban when he was captured." King muttered. "But it... it was shut down, wasn't it?" Elizabeth asked. "Yes. It was." King answered. "Therefore it would be an easy place to hold a hostage illegally." Gowther nodded slightly, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I suppose we shall go, then?" "If that is where Melodias-sama is being held, we have to!" Elizabeth burst out. Diane nodded in agreement. "We have to rescue Captain!". "So? What are we waiting for?" Hawk asked, and they set off on the Boar Hat's green pig. It wasn't long until the place was in sight.

-Meanwhile, in Baste Dungeon-

Melodias squirmed uselessly as his legs were revived so he could feel the pain. Turns out, a poison had been on the blade that would temporarily paralyze him. Flames flickered dangerously on the soles of his bare feet, threatening to light the skin ablaze. Finally, the threat was fulfilled. Pain seared through Melodias, and he cried out, kicking out his legs to try and extinguish the flames to no avail. They spread up his legs, burning away. The rag tied loosely around his waist turned to ashes, leaving his burning body exposed. He looked up longingly at the water, screaming in pain until finally he called out, "PLEASE! IT HURTS! MAKE IT STOP!" The water poured down on him. The chains binding him to the metal stake released him onto the pile of charred wood, the smell of his burning flesh reaching his nose. He tumbled down, pain flaring through him ever time his burned lower legs and feet hit something. He ended up looking up at Freesia, his usual torturer, with fear rather than defiance. "Finally... finally for once I was able to savor... a Sin begging for my mercy... oh... oh, that tasted wonderful." she licked her lips as if complimenting his finest ale at the Boar Hat. Disgust filled him... not only for the one who'd tortured him, but for himself for giving in and begging her for mercy. "Now, then. You will tell me where the other Sins are?"

Gowther looked through the crack in the door just in time to see Melodias, charred leg s and feet, looking up at a lady in strange bug armor as she ordered him to tell her where the rest of the Sins were. His bland expression turned to one of mild surprise as the obviously weak Melodias croaked out a feeble, "I told you no from the start..." The lady, who Diane whispered through the window was Freesia, pulled something out of the charred remains of logs that had recently been lit, judging by the smell of smoke and the glowing hot embers still lying there. A brand with the symbol of the Weird Fangs. Gowther, King and Merlin all reached to open the door at once, knocking it down instead as Melodias let out a cry of pain. Gowther quickly recovered, forcing himself to look on with a mask of calmness as Melodias attempted to pull away from the brand.

Freesia pulled the metal away from his chest, smirking in satisfaction and pressing down on the mark in his chest. "Hmmm... Four out of Seven Sins have come to his aid? Cute. Melodias, you have been quite the satisfying toy... and look at that. In your pitiful attempts not to reveal their location, you led your friends straight into my clutches." a cage fell down on Gowther, Merlin and King, though Gowther gave no sign he cared. Diane could simply knock the roof off the place and pick up the cage, or Merlin could use her magic, or something. "Captain!" Diane yelled in concern. As predicated, Diane knocked the roof off, but not to free them. She lifted Freesia, crushing Melodias's torturer's skull.


	3. Chapter 3

Melodias woke in his room in the Boar's Hat. He gulped, desperately trying to lift himself off the ground. No luck. Hands were pinning him down... fear spiked through him. He instinctively ducked under the covers and hid, trembling. He'd learned being pinned down meant pain. His chest ached with both the pressure the hands had put on him and the effort to move... his branding. He let out a squeak as he was repositioned, realizing as the blanket was picked up off him then spread over him again, this time not covering his head, that this had merely been Elizabeth checking up on him. He saw the hurt in her eyes, and tried to call her back, but his throat refusing to allow sound. Everything hurt. He forgot what food and water tasted like, having been forced to eat dog food... when he was even fed at all. Any water he was given was muddy and stale. He heard voices coming from the bar, hushed so he couldn't make them out.. as if they were talking about what to do with him. He tried to rise, but he was made weak from pain. Pain... pain he wanted to stop. He got up once more, struggling to the bathroom. He looked himself in the eyes. A mirror, a bowl to be used as a toilet, and old newspaper articles with whatever information they could scavenge on Holy Knights during their reign. He met his own eyes, and was shocked. This person... couldn't be him. Hollow, green eyes, hair that might have once been blonde but was so caked with blood and dirt, he couldn't tell. A frail, sullen face, not wrinkled, but all the same reflecting misery and famine. He reached out a bony hand and touched his cheek. The reflection on the mirror, of course, did the same. "P-please... no... that can't be me. It can't be..." he longed for the imperfections he had once loathed about himself, for the pesky, stray strands of hair that refused to be tamed, for the obnoxious grin, he wanted the appearance of a naïve boy back. Someone appeared behind him... Gowther. The Sin of Lust put a hand on his shoulder, and muttered calmly, "But it is you." as if he were telling Melodias what was being cooked for dinner. "No..." tears slid down his cheeks. "It isn't! It can't be... that... that isn't me, Gowther!" Gowther, as if realizing Melodias was dangerous and unstable, though in truth realizing his words meant to be comforting made things worse, left the bathroom. "I-it's not m-me..." he stuttered out quietly, but there was no faking the desperation in the eyes of his reflection. Almost like his reflection was begging him to accept it, while Melodias pleaded it wasn't true. They were the same... he sunk to his knees and sniffled. He looked around for something, anything sharp... anything that could pierce his skin. A sewing needle... it would have to do. He poked again and again, leaving red dots of blood. At that very moment, King entered the room with a now shrunken Diane. The needle was wrestled away from him, and he was wrapped in the tight embrace of King's pillow, somehow managing to be comforting and restraining at the same time. He leaned into the large, green, teddybear-like form of the spear, desperate for its comfort. "W-why... you don't need to bear any more pain, Melodias. We're here for you. Your physical wounds will fade away in time." "But... I'd rather have physical pain than emotional pain..." Melodias tried to explain, but there was no way King or Diane could understand. "Captain, please. This isn't worth it."

Melodias looked up at them, trying to convey how much it helped. "But, Diane.. it is."


End file.
